This invention relates to electronic module housings, and particularly to housings for supporting data storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, for use in hostile environments.
Magnetic and optical disk drives are employed as the principal memory unit for a wide variety of special and general purpose processors. These devices are characterized by a rotating disk and associated data transfer device for writing data to and reading data from the disk. Most disk drives are mounted in housings to protect the disk drive from the effects of environmental extremes, such as heat, humidity and mechanical stress, encountered in most normal operating conditions. However, these housings may not be suitable for certain environmental extremes. More particularly, certain military and space environments may subject the disk drive to extreme temperatures, pressures (or vacuum) and/or mechanical shock. For this reason, contractors supplying such units for use in these extreme conditions employed special housings to protect the disk drive from the environmental extremes that might be expected.
The data storage housings designed for extremely harsh conditions were designed to address only the specific conditions to which the data storage unit would be subjected. The reason for this is that special housings to address environmental extremes are expensive, add to the space and weight of the housed unit, and reduce the access to the unit for maintenance or salvage. Where space and weight are of concern, added volume and weight are minimized, usually by designing the housing to address only the environmental concerns to which the unit will be subjected. Ease of removal of the unit from the support platform is essential for maintenance, as well as removal for salvage or destruction such as to prevent information stored on the disk drive from falling into unfriendly hands. Hence, there is a need for a housing for electronic units that protects the unit from environmental extremes, is cost effective, permits quick removal of the unit, and does not overly increase the weight or space of the unit.
Present housings designed for specific severe environmental conditions accommodate single data storage devices, such as a single disk drive system, and do not accommodate housing an array comprising a plurality of such devices. Data storage arrays are useful to meet requirements of storage redundancy, increased storage capacity and increased bandwidth. Hence, there is a need for a housing for an array of electronic units that meets the needs described above.